Definition

Noun: 1. The act of administering food or a nutrient solution to a person or animal against their will or when they are unable to eat normally: This typically involves using a tube, such as a nasal or stomach tube, to deliver sustenance.

Usage

• The term is used specifically in medical, veterinary, or legal contexts to describe the procedure of providing nutrition to an individual who cannot or refuses to eat voluntarily.
• It implies a lack of consent or ability from the recipient, distinguishing it from voluntary assisted feeding.

Examples

• The patient's coma necessitated forced feeding via a gastrostomy tube.
• The court order authorized the forced feeding of the hunger striker.
• In some historical contexts, forced feeding was a controversial practice used in prisons.

Advanced Usage

• "to undergo forced feeding": to be subjected to the procedure.
  • The political prisoner had to undergo forced feeding.
• "the ethics of forced feeding": used in discussions about medical ethics and human rights.
  • The debate centered on the ethics of forced feeding in palliative care.

Variants and Related Words

• Force-feed (verb): To administer food or nutrients by force.
  • The zookeepers had to force-feed the sick animal.
• Tube feeding (noun): A more general, clinical term for delivering nutrition via a tube, which may or may not be "forced."
• Enteral nutrition (noun): The formal medical term for providing nutrients via the digestive tract, often using tubes.

Synonyms

• Gavage: A medical term, often used for feeding via a tube passed through the nose.
• Non-voluntary feeding: A more formal term emphasizing the lack of consent.
• Compulsory feeding: A term with similar meaning, often used in legal or institutional contexts.

Related Phrases

• Nasogastric feeding: A specific type of forced or assisted feeding using a tube through the nose and into the stomach.
• Life-sustaining treatment: A broader category that can include forced feeding when it is used to sustain life.

Noun

1. feeding that consists of the delivery of a nutrient solution (as through a nasal tube) to someone who cannot or will not eat